Neither of the armies had met yet.My men and I were approaching the middle of the battlefield when we heard a hornblast off to our right.We looked up the slope and there were at least 900 Dacian mercenary cavalryman employed by the roman army!I ordered my men to immeadiately form ranks off to the right."Hoplites in front,archers in back,and militia on the flanks!".The Dacians came pouring down the hill at full gallop. I stood on foot in the front with my troops.My heart seemed to stop.I gave the command to the front ranks;"Raise spears!".Then suddenly, the Dacians hit the line like waves crashing on to the nearby shore.Meanwhile, in the middle of the battlefield, the hill was being held easily by the other greeks.Our right wing of the battleline was advancing well,and the center was pretty much at a halt.When the Dacian cavalry hit the line of spears held, but much of the Dacians had got through. The slaughter began.The Dacians were pulled from there horses. For a while we hed our ground.But then the Dacians remounted and gave another charge!I tried to raise the moral of my men by laughing in the face of the Dacians, but it was no use.Their charge burst through our lines like a sword peircing bare skin!I had no choice but to order a retreat. I had the signal for retreat given, and luckly the Dacians went on to the rest of the greek line to continue thier onslaught.I ordered my remaining force to retreat to the slope near Persamus.When the men had assembled their I found that i had only 540 hoplites,85 archers,and about 300 militia remaining.With less than 1000 men it was hopeless to try to rejoin the battle. I ordered a message sent to Asaetos telling what had happened. My men and I marched up the slope to Persamus when we were near the walls of the town we saw the worst thing possible.The enemy had captured the city!To be continued.........
Stay tuned for an exciting conclusion in part three!